Instant Pot chicken and gnocchi soup is a creamy and delicious winter meal. Cooking the soup in the Instant Pot makes it amazingly easy!

I have loved cream of chicken soup for as long as I can remember. As a kid and even now as an adult I would choose cream of chicken soup over chicken noodle as my “sick day soup”. This Instant Pot chicken and gnocchi soup is a grown up (but still kid-friendly!) version of my childhood favorite. Sure…you could make this on the stovetop; but the flavor that the Instant Pot extracts from the chicken can’t be matched, and you won’t believe how tender the chicken thighs are. I made this soup two weeks in a row and ate it for lunch nearly every day – that’s how much I love it!
Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite and The Weekend Potluck on The Country Cook!

On the Instant Pot, press the "sauté" button or turn the knob to select "sauté". Add the butter and allow it to melt. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until it begins to soften. Add the carrots and celery and cook until the carrots begin to soften.

Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir to combine. Cook for about one minute. Slowly add 2 cups of the chicken stock, stirring constantly. Add the chicken thighs and press the "cancel" button to turn the Instant Pot off.

Place the lid on the Instant Pot and set the steam release valve to "sealing". Choose the "manual" setting and set the time for 20 minutes.

When the cook time is complete, press the "cancel" button to turn the Instant Pot off. Turn the steam release valve to "venting" and allow the pressure to release completely. Remove the lid.

Remove the chicken thighs from the Instant Pot. Remove the skin and use two forks to pull the meat from the bones and shred it. Add the meat to the Instant Pot along with the remaining chicken broth.

Select "sauté" again and allow the soup to come to a low boil. Add the gnocchi and cook, stirring frequently, until the gnocchi float.

Add the cream, milk, or half and half and the spinach and cook until the soup is heated through and the spinach is wilted. Salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

Recipe Type: soup, chicken, main dishes

Notes

Cook time does not include the time that it takes for the Instant Pot to come to pressure. This takes about 15-20 minutes.

This vegetarian taco soup is healthy and delicious, and it’s easy to make in either your slow cooker or your Instant Pot!
I got two slow-cookers (AKA Crock-Pots) when I got married. Actually, three people bought them for me but one of my husband’s friends saw the other two that we had already gotten in our apartment when he came in town for our wedding and took the one he had gotten us back (he subsequently replaced said slow-cooker gift with DVDs of Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, much cooler gifts anyway, at least for these children of the eighties). It took me a few years to find my panache as a slow-cooker chef. I don’t really remember my mom using a slow-cooker when I was a kid and honestly I’m not even sure we had one back then (she does have a couple now). My early attempts at slow-cooker cooking included roasts (generally of the chuck variety), beef stew, chili, and taco soup from a recipe given to me by our school nurse (more on that in a minute).

The first food blog that I ever followed with any sort of faithfulness was Stephanie O’Dea’s A Year of Slow Cooking, which I started reading after seeing Stephanie on The Rachael Ray Show discussing her pledge to use her slow cooker every day for a year. And blog about it. The good, the bad, and the ugly. That was in 2008 and she’s still adding new recipes, though not daily anymore. She’s also released two cookbooks: Make It Fast, Cook It Slow (which I own) and More Make It Fast, Cook It Slow (which I don’t own). Anyway, Stephanie made so many interesting things in her slow cooker….pasta, chicken nuggets, rice, brownies (okay, so none of those foods are particularly interesting….I really just meant that it was interesting that she made them in her slow cooker) and it inspired me to use mine more.
Slow cooking is not fool proof, and you can’t just dump a bunch of ingredients into your slow cooker and be assured a delicious, perfectly cooked meal. Sometimes it happens like that, and sometimes your chicken has the texture of a paper bag (which is why I never cook chicken breasts in the slow cooker. I got burned, figuratively speaking, one too many times). Not all slow cooker meals take kindly to just being left for hours and hours and hours. Baked goods can burn, or you can forget to spray the stoneware when you make slow cooker French toast and then you have to trash your entire slow cooker because no matter how much you soak it the bread just won’t come off the side (not that it’s happened to anyone I know).

Some meals, though, are magical. Like this taco soup. For many years I made taco soup that contained a whole lot of packaged stuff, and chances are if you’ve had taco soup it was probably pretty similar to what I’ve had. This one isn’t devoid of packaged foods…while I had pinto and black beans I’d cooked myself, the only kidney beans I had in the house were in a can, and it’s not tomato season (and even if it was I’m not sure I’d waste perfect seasonal tomatoes in a soup) so I used canned tomatoes. However, I didn’t see any need to add Ro*tel when I could cook a jalapeño instead, and I had all the spices in my pantry to make my own taco seasoning and ranch dressing mix…without the filler. Oh, and I doubled the beans and left out the meat. You could use half the beans and add a pound of cooked and drained ground beef….but I promise this is just as good (if not better).

Preheat the oil over medium heat in a medium pan. Sauté the onion and jalapeno until softened and the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for an additional 30 seconds. Add the chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, dill, paprika, and cumin and cook for another 30 seconds.

While the onion mixture is cooking, place the beans, canned tomatoes, and broth into a 4-6 quart slow-cooker. Add the onion mixture and stir to combine. Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours.

Just before serving, add the corn kernels, parsley, and cilantro. Cover and heat through for 15 minutes. Add salt to taste. Serve with tortilla chips, grated cheese, sour cream, and more chopped cilantro if desired.

To make this in the Instant Pot, preheat the Instant Pot on the saute setting. Follow the directions in step 1 then turn the Instant Pot off once the onions, jalapeno, and garlic are cooked through and the spices have been added. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Close the Instant Pot and make sure the vent is closed. Press the "Bean/Chili" button and set the timer for ten minutes. Once the cooking is complete, quick release the pressure and serve with desired toppings.

This creamy potato-leek soup is warm, rich, and flavorful but so simple (only 6 ingredients!) and easy. It may become your favorite soup!
Potato soup has been one of my go-to comfort meals since I was a very young child. I can remember my mom making me the simplest potato soup ever…cooked chunks of potato mixed with milk and butter. I haven’t made or eaten potato soup like that in years (my mom has moved on to a fancier recipe), but I can still taste it, eaten with saltines, probably with a glass of Sprite.
If there is potato soup on the menu at a restaurant, there’s a pretty good chance that I’m going to try it with a salad or maybe a BLT. There’s just nothing like something creamy and familiar and maybe a little bit cheesy. Plus, there’s usually bacon involved and how can you go wrong with bacon?
The honest truth, though, is that I’ve made potato soup a hundred different ways over the 20+ years that I’ve been cooking and, while I am never going to turn down a bowl of potato soup topped with bacon, cheddar, and green onions (come to mama!), this simple preparation is my favorite. It’s my homage to Julia Child, who is one of my cooking idols (who doesn’t love Julia???).
Several years back, I had dinner at a friend’s house and we were planning to watch Julie and Julia (by the way, if you are interesting in Julia Child’s life, see the movie…but for reading, I recommend Julia’s autobiography, My Life in Paris.). We ended up not watching the movie, but we made this creamy potato-leek soup anyway, as a tribute to the fabulous Julia. The recipe is from Emeril Lagasse. I’ve made this so many times since that night, and it’s by far my favorite potato soup….my favorite soup, period. Hands-down.
A few things to note: leeks are dirty little vegetables. Clean them well or you will regret it. There is nothing that ruins a meal faster for me than biting into grit (seriously, it makes me cringe just thinking about it!). I prep my leeks like this: 1) Cut off the root tip and the dark green end; (2) cut the leek in half lengthwise; (3) slice the leek halves into half moons, about 1/4-inch thick; (4) place the sliced leeks into a colander and submerge into a large bowl of warm water (this is to keep from freezing your hands); (5) swish the leeks several times; and (6) drain the water, rinse and refill the bowl, and repeat step 5 two or three times until the leeks are clean. Also, creme fraiche can be hard to find and kind of pricey when you do. You can make it yourself, but usually I don’t think that far ahead so I just sub in sour cream. I can never tell the difference!

I’ve tried three or four other versions of potato-leek soup, and, while each of them has been okay, none of them have been as good as this creamy potato-leek soup. I keep coming back to it, and I hope you will try it….you may find that you keep coming back to it, too.

Place the leeks, potatoes, water, and salt in a Dutch oven (mine is 6 quarts). Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Cover the soup, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

Puree the soup with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender. Stir in the cream and sour cream/creme fraiche until thoroughly combined. Salt to taste. Serve immediately, garnished with chopped parsley or chives.

With mushrooms, rice, and a little bit of sherry and milk, this homemade cream of mushroom soup is easy and comforting. Swiss-Parmesan toast completes the meal!
When I started writing this blog, we didn’t eat much meat. It saved us a lot of money and I was way more creative with my recipes. Over time, we started to eat more meat. I’m fine with that, but I’m always looking for meatless meals to incorporate into our weekly meal plans, and this mushroom soup, which originated back in the very early days of this blog, is a great specimen for just such a purpose.
I love a good mushroom soup, but it seems that most of the scratch-made recipes that I have found are for more of a mushroom “bisque” that is better suited for an appetizer (i.e. not very filling). I’ve been making my own “cream of mushroom soup” to use in recipes (instead of canned soup) for years now, but, of course, that soup is much thicker than anything I would eat as a meal. With rice, lots of mushrooms, sherry, and milk, this cream of mushroom soup is creamy and thick. Swiss-Parmesan toast not only amps up the flavor, but it makes this meal even more filling.
Don’t let the cook time on this cream of mushroom soup scare you. The rice takes a long time to cook, so most of the cook time is actually hands off. If you are in a hurry, you can definitely use quicker cooking white rice or use instant brown rice. Whatever you need to do to make this an easy meal to get on your table. Really, this comes together quickly and easily, and the flavors meld together so quickly that this doesn’t require the standing and stirring that a lot of soups do. It’s simple comfort food that’s perfect for a cold January night.

Cream of mushroom soup with Swiss-Parmesan toast deserves a place in your next meal plan!

Cook rice according to package directions. Place dried mushrooms in a large bowl and cover with 2 cups hot water.

In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the cremini mushrooms and cook until almost softened, another 3-5 minutes.

Add the butter to the pan and stir to melt. Add 2 tablespoons of the flour and cook for about 1 minute. Stir in the sherry until incorporated, then add the chicken broth.

Drain the dried mushrooms and add the soaking liquid to the soup pot. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes. Chop the dried mushrooms and add them to the pot.

In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining flour and the milk until smooth and well-combined. Add to the soup and bring to a simmer. Cook until thickened. Stir in the cooked rice. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with Swiss-Parmesan toast.

To make the Swiss-Parmesan toast, turn on the broiler to Low. Place the bread slices on a baking sheet and divide the cheeses evenly among the slices. Broil until the cheese is melted and the cheese and bread are lightly browned. Serve immediately with the soup.

Recipe Type: soups, main dishes, vegetarian

Notes

To make this soup vegetarian, substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth.

Taco corn chowder with cheese is a simple and delicious one-pot weeknight dinner. It’s perfect for a cool Fall night, and it’s a great Thermos lunch!
A version of this taco corn chowder recipe has been up here forever…it started out as corn and cheese chowder, which I barely adapted from the Pioneer Woman’s original recipe. I remember thinking the first time that I made it, though, that it would be delicious with some taco meat stirred into it. Because, I mean, what savory foods are not improved by having a bit of seasoned ground beef added? Tacos are a bit of an obsession for me. Not trendy street tacos, though, as much as I love them. No no…ground beef tacos with regular old seasoning (albeit homemade) in crunchy corn shells.
When I first posted this recipe, I had not honed my photography skills very much. Case in point (I’m only leaving one of these God-forsaken photos from the first go-round):

That’s better:

I also hadn’t really figured out that it’s okay to riff on someone else’s recipe, but really, if you aren’t doing something to really make it your own, why would people read your website to get the recipe instead of getting it from the original source? Funny thing, though…I talked about it here like “oh yeah, here’s how I made it, but go to Pioneer Woman’s website to get the detailed recipe”. I was still a novice, less than a year into the blog back then.

This taco corn chowder is the kind of thing that we eat on weeknights. I blog about the way that I cook: from scratch but simple. I have never been a “meat and three” type of person…too many things going on makes my head spin. One-pot meals, casseroles, soups…that’s the way we eat. We had enough of this soup to eat it for two nights and I was able to put it in my Thermos for lunch one day too.
You could definitely eat taco corn chowder with some bread or crackers or a grilled cheese, but personally I like tortilla chips with it. I went for Nacho Doritos, one of my weaknesses. I can’t keep them in the house, because I eat them incessantly. We split a small bag, and it was a good idea.

Taco corn chowder is easy and filling and perfect for a weeknight dinner!

Preheat a 6-8 quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook the bacon until almost crisp. Add the onions, red pepper, and jalapeño pepper and cook until softened. Add the ground beef and cook until browned.

Add the chili powder, cornstarch, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, paprika, cayenne, and cumin and stir until just combined. Sprinkle the flour over the ground beef. Cook and stir for one minute. Add in the corn, the chicken stock, and the half and half. Stir until well-combined.

Cover the soup and cook for 15 minutes. Stir in the cheese a handful at a time. Salt and pepper to taste then stir in the the green onions right before removing from the heat. Serve immediately, topped with sour cream if desired.